The territorial government say community engagement meetings on the Mackenzie Valley Highway project are taking place in the coming weeks but will be accessible in-person only. The Mackenzie Valley Highway is a proposed all-season transportation corridor that would run through the central and northern Mackenzie Valley, from Wrigley to Norman Wells and to Inuvik.
Many of these communities in the region are currently accessible only by air or winter road. Proponents of the project say the highway has the potential to connect several remote communities to the public highway system, strengthen supply chains, and improve access to services like healthcare, education and economic opportunities as well as military operations and emergency response.
While virtual and online sessions have not been made accessible online to date, a number of in-person meetings are in the works. These include Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake gatherings to take place this month. A number of in person meeting opportunities have also been opened in Norman Wells between April to June.
Reps with the GNWT’s department of Infrastructure said the sessions are aimed at giving community members a chance to ask questions and to hear what stage the project is at, where it’s going and upcoming timelines.
A representative with the department said at this time no online engagement sessions have been planned. North Now has reached out for more information and will share those details when they become available.
The meetings in Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake were both rescheduled from original dates in February.
A meeting is currently scheduled at the Community Hall in Fort Good Hope for 6:00 p.m. On April 24, a community meeting is set to take place at the School Gym in Colville Lake at 12:00 p.m.
According to the message issued Monday, a project representative will be on site in Norman Wells to answer questions and relay project updates. The one on one sessions slots are open from April 20 to 24, May 25 to 29 and June 15 to 19 at the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated Office. The office is located in the Sahtu Research Support Centre on Mackenzie Drive in Norman Wells.
A representative with the department of Infrastructure confirmed that consultations with Indigenous Governments and Organizations are separate and distinct from these meetings.
In March, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the Mackenzie Valley Highway Project received approval by the major projects office.
In his speech in Yellowknife, the PM acknowledged the problems with past development proposals in the territory, which lacked meaningful Indigenous consultation.
“Too often investments were made with inadequate consultation, partnership. Too often they were made one at a time, piecemeal— not connected neither to the community in each other.”
The PM said that this is why response to input from Indigenous rights holders, territorial governments other stakeholders is important.
“We will build this highway in partnership with the teiritorial and Indigenous governments,” he added.
In June 2018, the federal and the territorial government committed $140 million funding towards an environmental assessment and planning studies for the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Great Bear River Bridge and the Mount Gaudet Access Road.
Plans for the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway running up to the Arctic Coast were first named a “strategic priority” for Canada in 1958, under the “Roads to Resources” program.
More information about the Mackenzie Valley Highway is available on the project’s website.
Anyone with questions can reach out directly via email at MVH@gov.nt.ca
